129: Your imagination is running wild!

"Stop flattering yourself. Do you think you're in high demand?" Liu Xiaoli shot her daughter a look and drove Liu Yifei straight to the Beijing Film Academy.

Liu Yifei pouted, feeling very unhappy. Her love story between the rich heiress and the talented poor scholar hadn't even begun yet.

"Make sure you tell Xiuwu yourself, or he might forget to take you home," Liu Xiaoli reminded her daughter as she left the Beijing Film Academy.

"Got it." After she got out of the car and watched her mother drive away, she paused, sent Li Xiuwu a text message asking for the classroom and the teacher's name, and then hurried over.

Liu Yifei cautiously peeked in through the doorway. It was a theory class. She rushed to the back door, bent over, ran inside, and sat down next to Li Xiuwu.

Li Xiuwu stared at her in astonishment. Didn't she know how many people were in their class? Or did Liu Yifei think the teacher wouldn't recognize her?

"Oh! Li Xiuwu, how did you conjure up Liu Yifei?" Xu Xiaodan had indeed spotted Liu Yifei.

There weren't many people in the whole class; some had gone to film crews, and Liu Yifei was already the outstanding student among those remaining.

Liu Yifei stood up, an embarrassed expression on her face: "Teacher, I took leave today and just got back."

"I heard you've been attending directing courses recently. Since you're here, why don't you talk to everyone about 'Visual Language and Screen Presentation'?" Xu Xiaodan stepped down from the podium and sat in the front row.

Liu Yifei had no choice but to walk up to the podium: "Hello, classmates. Hello, Teacher."

She wasn't shy about being on stage. Organizing her thoughts, she slowly began: "Visual language is a very broad concept. When I was studying in the Photography Department, I encountered a saying: painting is the freezing of a dynamic shot."

"The composition, lighting, color, and set design of a painting are interconnected with the camera lens."

Standing on the podium, she explained what she had learned and realized.

Li Xiuwu watched her speaking eloquently—confident and beautiful. In this moment, she seemed to glow.

"Well spoken." Xu Xiaodan applauded. She hadn't expected Liu Yifei to truly have her own insights into Cinematic Language.

"Thank you, Teacher. Thank you, everyone." Liu Yifei bowed, stepped off the podium, and returned to sit next to Li Xiuwu.

"Impressive," Li Xiuwu said, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Hmph!" She tossed her head up proudly.

"Did your uncle leave?" Li Xiuwu asked her.

"Mhm." Liu Yifei nodded.

After a moment, she lowered her head and whispered to Li Xiuwu, "I think my mom is hiding something from me."

She told Li Xiuwu the conversation her uncle and mother had shared when they parted at the airport.

"Do you think Mom has... new ideas?" she asked.

Li Xiuwu turned his head to look at Liu Yifei. Her pretty face was serious, as if she were contemplating something incomprehensible.

He listened to Liu Yifei's words and roughly understood the purpose of her uncle's visit to The Capital—it must be related to him.

"Do you think Mom is dating too?"

"Hiss."

"Your imagination is a bit too wild."

Liu Yifei had clearly misunderstood something, thinking her uncle came for her mother and that her mother was hiding something from her.

"Ugh, this is too difficult for me." Liu Yifei thought for a long time but still couldn't figure it out. The main problem was the significant information gap; she hadn't considered Li Xiuwu as the reason.

"If you want to know, why don't you just ask your mom directly?"

"How can I possibly ask Mom directly? What if she misunderstands and thinks I don't approve?"

Liu Yifei rested her hand on her chin, frowning in thought.

"Do you think it might be about us?" Li Xiuwu prompted her.

"Impossible. I'm incredibly smart, and I already tested the waters," Liu Yifei waved her hand dismissively.

Hearing this, Liu Yifei turned her head, her gaze fixed on Li Xiuwu: "You're trying to trick me."

"Impossible, I'm not, don't talk nonsense," Li Xiuwu immediately denied.

Liu Yifei didn't have the mind to pay attention to Li Xiuwu; she was still preoccupied with her mother's affairs.

In the afternoon, after class, they returned to the Courtyard House together.

"It smells so good! What delicious food did Mom make?" As soon as Liu Yifei got out of the car, she smelled the aroma of cooking.

"So lavish." Liu Yifei looked at the table full of dishes and then at her mother in the kitchen, feeling that her guess was becoming more accurate.

"Xiuwu, eat more." Liu Xiaoli put food onto Li Xiuwu's plate.

"Auntie, I already have enough." Li Xiuwu noticed Liu Xiaoli's reaction. She wasn't good at disguising herself; although she maintained her usual demeanor, her underlying mindset was clearly different, and Li Xiuwu picked up on it.

This further confirmed the idea in his mind. Liu Yifei's uncle must have come because of him.

Liu Xiaoli must have learned his true net worth, which explained her unusual behavior.

Liu Yifei watched her mother while eating, constantly feeling that something was off with her.

Hmm, Li Xiuwu was also acting strangely.

Something was definitely being hidden from her, and her clever mind started spinning rapidly.

"Li Xiuwu, come with me." When they were mostly finished eating, Liu Yifei grabbed Li Xiuwu's hand and started walking out.

"We should help Auntie clear the table," Li Xiuwu suggested.

"Leave it for now, we'll come back and clean it up later." Liu Yifei was impatient and pulled Li Xiuwu away.

Liu Xiaoli frowned. This girl had no sense of propriety.

She had always doted on Liu Yifei, but now it seemed she might have been a bit lax in discipline; Liu Yifei lacked the image of a proper lady.

Liu Yifei dragged Li Xiuwu all the way up to the attic in the first courtyard section.

"What's going on?"

"Do you know something too?" She stood in front of Li Xiuwu. Compared to a while ago, she seemed to have grown taller, perhaps reaching 170 centimeters.

Li Xiuwu looked at Liu Yifei standing before him and reached out, only for Liu Yifei to swat his hand away.

"Spit it out," she glared at Li Xiuwu.

"If I tell you, will you believe me?" Li Xiuwu asked first.

Hearing this, Liu Yifei's eyes flashed. After thinking carefully, she nodded: "I will."

"Alright, I'm going to tell you." Li Xiuwu sat down, cleared his throat, and stated solemnly, "I have a net worth of tens of billions, I possess advanced technology, I can Tame Beasts, and I can fly..."

"Stop, stop, stop." Liu Yifei quickly cut him off.

"Li Xiuwu, three strikes and you're out."

"See? I told you, and you still don't believe me." Li Xiuwu spread his hands.

"I don't want to know how much money you have right now. I just want to know what exactly my mother is hiding from me." She felt she wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if she didn't figure it out.

"Is it possible that your uncle found out I'm worth tens of billions, and you're just a small star?" Li Xiuwu used his right thumb and index finger to indicate a very small gap.

"Your uncle realized you weren't good enough for me, so he told you to hurry up and offer yourself."

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!" Liu Yifei didn't finish listening before pouncing on him.

"You bad guy, still trying to trick me! I'm the rich heiress, and you're the poor boy."

The two of them wrestled playfully for a while. Liu Yifei then sat down on the side and sighed.

"Fine, don't tell me." She took out her chinese zither, sat at the instrument stand, and plucked the strings with her fingers.

Li Xiuwu embraced her from behind, his fingers also touching the strings.

Liu Yifei's body stiffened, but slowly relaxed as she listened to the music.

"If you can't figure it out, don't worry about it. I'll take you to play games tomorrow."